To La La Land

We spent the MLK holiday driving out of Las Vegas on Hwy 15 to head to Los Angeles.
We didn't realize that hundreds of people from LA would also be doing the same thing. There was steady traffic the whole way and we realized we will have to get used to this now that we will be in California for the next 6 weeks. LA will be the first work stop on our trip.

It didn't take us long to come across something very interesting as we headed across the Mojave Desert. Just as we were about to cross the California border, we noticed something very alien on the north side of the highway. These very tall bright lights were casting their gamma rays back down to earth. It was like something out of Lost In Space. I said to Rowan " Warning! Warning! Dr. Smith! Warning! (those of you who grew up on that 1960's show know what I'm talking about :o) ) We had just passed the little town of Primm, Nevada, so I had Rowan fire up google to see if we could find out what this thing was.
Here is what Wiki said we were seeing:

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert. Located at the base of Clark Mountain in California, just over the state line between Primm, Nevada and Nipton, California, the plant has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts (MW). It deploys 173,500 heliostats, each with two mirrors, focusing solar energy on boilers located on three centralized solar power towers^. Unit 1 of the project was connected to the grid in September 2013 in an initial sync testing. The facility formally opened on February 13, 2014, and it is currently the worlds largest solar thermal power station.

This is a photo of just one of the towers (there are 3). The towers are just gigantic. It really does look like something you would see on Mars. It was just fascinating to find this going on out here in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Those bloody aliens from Roswell are obviously still following us! 

As we got closer to LA, all of the recent rains had turned the normally brown mountains very green. There was even snow up on Big Bear.

We battled that famous LA traffic to get to the city of Orange where we will stay with dear old friends Corina and Maricela.

Maricela has expressed her Mexican roots through her art and the garden all around their house.  They have guava and banana trees everywhere.

Maricela also creates delicious Mexican food from scratch.

Here is a bowl of her homemade Pico de Gallo salsa

We couldn't resist the plentiful sunshine outside so our first excursion was to go out to Laguna Beach to soak up some vitamin D.

Corina and Maricela have two Chihuahua's who run their house. They are so adorable and they go everywhere we go. We took them to the beach with us and of course they were hilarious.

This is Aapje (Op-e-ah). His name means little monkey in Dutch.

Us with Corina

This is Aapje's sister Guera (Hu-er-a) Mexican Spanish slag for 'White Girl'. She is protecting us from the scary waves.



Maricela sunbathing with the dogs (I think it is safe to say the dogs are "all ears" :o)

As you will notice when you are reading the blog, I love taking photos of public art. I thought these two pieces were perfect considering the trying times we are in at this very moment.




The ocean was very calm and peaceful today. I think it is definitely the calm before the storm (as you will see in my next post). My favorite Pelican limerick:
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
BUT I'M DAMNED IF I SEE HOW THE HELICAN!"

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/162471-1

I was very excited to have my toes back in the sand and in the Pacific Ocean :o)

One of the things I miss most about California.

Rowan was pretty excited too!

The Mediterranean climate out here creates some of the most beautiful trees and plant life. This tree was just stunning to stand under. It was enormous!

We found out today that Rowan just received the Teacher of the Year Award so we went out to Tacos Jalisco to celebrate. Can you say chile rellenos? YUM!

Now THAT is a Corona if I've ever seen one!

I leave you with this hilarious video of the dogs doing tricks (they have many).

I would have picked Ellen too!

Next stop, my favorite Surfer/Hippie town, Pismo Beach.

Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

 Red Rock Canyon is located 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip on State Route 159. You can easily see Red Rock from the Las Vegas strip and we would highly recommend coming out here for a hike instead of sitting in a dark casino losing your money :o)
The unique geologic features, plants and animals of Red Rock represent some of the best examples of the Mojave Desert. The conservation area showcases a set of large red rock formations: a set of sandstone peaks and walls called the Keystone Thrust. The walls are up to 3,000 feet high, making them a popular hiking and rock climbing destination. The highest point is La Madre Mountain, at 8,154 feet.
When looking at these mountains from a distance, you would think they couldn't possibly sustain much life. Enter The Native Americans: The first humans here were attracted to the Red Rock area due to its resources of water, plant, and animal life that could not be easily found in the surrounding Mojave desert. Hunters and gatherers such as the historical Southern Paiute and the much older Archaic, or Desert Culture Native Americans, have successively occupied this area.

We took advantage of this spectacularly beautiful day to take a scramble up into these mountains to take in the views of the surrounding area. We took over a hundred photos of our hike into the mountains. I have chosen a few of the best ones to share with you.

The thing about this hike that kept taking my breath away (beyond the climb!) was how blue, blue, blue the sky was in contrast to the reds, tans and browns of the landscape. What a contrast to the smoggy skies of the LA area we will see later in our trip.

We saw very few people on our hike. Another bonus of traveling to places like these in the off-season.

We had to work our way through some pretty challenging terrain as we went along. Thank goodness we had Steve as our guide. He regularly climbs here with a group of friends, so knows which ways to take us up the mountains.

When given the choice, I was always ready to crawl through the cave instead of climb up and around it. I usually got Rowan to do it with me too.

Canyon Scrambling

 Scrambling is "a walk up steep terrain involving the use of one's hands". Canyoning often involves scrambling. So I guess we are technically Canyon Scrambling here, since we are in a canyon.

Steve and Rowan demonstrate the technique here.

It is amazing to see how life can literally cling to the rocks, as this tree demonstrates (kinda like Steve and Rowan too, in the photo above!)

A bit of live-action walking along our scramble path

We stopped at the top of our mountain path to have a snack and some water before we started our descent down the other side of the mountain. This was the perfect time for a group photo.

Look at the crazy blue sky! Wow!

As we came down the back side of the mountain, we were looking for wild Big Horn Sheep. Steve and Ann have seen them before when hiking here. We couldn't seem to spot any today.

This is a great photo to show the the scale of where we are hiking. See if you can find Steve in this photo (and I am zooming in on him!).

WooWhoooooo! We did it!

What a wonderful day! Now all we could think about was getting in that hot tub back at cousin Ann's place and watching more football :o)

Next, we're off to La La Land.........

West to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

We continued west on Hwy 40 and hit snow again at Flagstaff. This was a clear sign that we should not take that right turn towards the Grand Canyon. Avoiding more weather drama is at the top of our list.

As we went west, the scenery kept getting more stunning.

We passed by the Juniper Mountains, Aquarius Mountains and Mohave County

The weather surrounding us on all sides was very dramatic. We kept going in and out of little rain showers.

At Kingman, Arizona we headed north on Hwy 93 towards Las Vegas. Here is where the scenery got even more dramatic as we went through the Cerbat Mountains and passed Mt. Tipton.

Hoover Dam

We were pleasantly surprised when we realized we were going to pass right by Hoover Dam. Rowan has never seen it and I haven't seen it since I was a child. As we turned off the highway to go to the dam, we were greeted by this rainbow. We took it as a good sign as our destination today is Las Vegas.

Walking out on the bridge over-look just takes your breath away!

You can see the shadow of the bridge we are standing on. It feels like you are on top of the world when you look down on the dam from this viewpoint.

As we approached Las Vegas, we were greeted by another rainbow. Looks like we might have double luck during our visit here! :o)

Las Vegas

We were very excited to arrive at Rowan's cousin Ann's in Las Vegas.

Ann and Steve are huge football fans, so we are happy we are here on playoff weekend. We will be watching all the games. We forgive them for being Patriots fans and look forward to spirited cheering for the 'other' team :o) 

We all went out for Korean BBQ and the food just kept coming and coming.......

....we absolutely gorged ourselves to the point that all we could do is go back to the house and lay down and watch more football.

A view of The Strip at night from Ann & Steve's house. (It looked like our alien friends were hovering in the clouds over the city. They must be following us. :o)

This is the closest we got to the strip. Thank goodness! It really isn't our scene.

Jenni was very excited to have access to a kitchen and grill for the first time in a couple of weeks, so wasted no time cooking dinner the second night of our stay.

Grilled vegetables, shrimp kabobs and grilled chicken were on the menu.

I just loved the fake snakes Ann had around the swimming pool deck in the backyard.

This helps to keep the birds from pooping all over the deck.

The first time I looked out back and saw this guy I about pooped my pants!

Our hike in Red Rock Canyon is next